The tribunal charged the couple with war crimes and crimes against humanity [Reuters]TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2007
Al Jazeera
The former Khmer Rouge foreign minister and his wife have been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes at a UN-backed genocide tribunal in Cambodia.
Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister, were held overnight on Monday pending further questioning.
They are the third and fourth former senior members of the Khmer Rouge to be detained.
The Cambodian press hailed the arrests, saying that "history cannot forgive" the couple for their alleged role in the deaths of some two million people during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.
Ieng Sary's arrest had been widely anticipated as one of five suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors.
'Good deeds'
Two other Khmer Rouge leaders had already been arrested and charged: Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Khek Lev, better known as Duch, the former head of the notorious S-21 or Tuol Sleng prison.
According to prosecutors' papers, the fifth suspect they seek to charge is Khieu Samphan, who was the nominal head of state during the Khmer Rouge rule.
An estimated two million Cambodians died of hunger, disease, overwork and execution during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s.
Like other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, the 77-year-old Ieng Sary who served as deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister, has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.
However, according to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal's judges, Ieng Sary, "promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned the perpetration of the crimes" when the Khmer Rouge held power.
It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in planning, directing and co-ordinating the Khmer Rouge "policies of forcible transfer, forced labour and unlawful killings".
Defection
When the Khmer Rouge lost power in 1979, Ieng Sary retreated with them to the jungles, from where they conducted a guerrilla war.
In 1996, with the group's forces in sharp decline, he defected with a large coterie of followers, setting the stage for the total collapse of the Khmer Rouge two years later.
His belated turn of heart earned him a limited amnesty from then-King Norodom Sihanouk, but one that officials have declared does not apply to the tribunal's charges.
His 75-year-old wife, Ieng Tarith, participated in "planning, direction, co-ordination and ordering of widespread purges ... and unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the ministry of social affairs", the prosecutors' filing said.
Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, who served as social affairs minister, were held overnight on Monday pending further questioning.
They are the third and fourth former senior members of the Khmer Rouge to be detained.
The Cambodian press hailed the arrests, saying that "history cannot forgive" the couple for their alleged role in the deaths of some two million people during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.
Ieng Sary's arrest had been widely anticipated as one of five suspects earlier listed by tribunal prosecutors.
'Good deeds'
Two other Khmer Rouge leaders had already been arrested and charged: Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Khek Lev, better known as Duch, the former head of the notorious S-21 or Tuol Sleng prison.
According to prosecutors' papers, the fifth suspect they seek to charge is Khieu Samphan, who was the nominal head of state during the Khmer Rouge rule.
An estimated two million Cambodians died of hunger, disease, overwork and execution during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power in the 1970s.
Like other surviving Khmer Rouge leaders, the 77-year-old Ieng Sary who served as deputy prime minister as well as foreign minister, has repeatedly denied responsibility for any crimes.
However, according to a July 18 filing by the prosecutors to the tribunal's judges, Ieng Sary, "promoted, instigated, facilitated, encouraged and/or condoned the perpetration of the crimes" when the Khmer Rouge held power.
It said there was evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in planning, directing and co-ordinating the Khmer Rouge "policies of forcible transfer, forced labour and unlawful killings".
Defection
When the Khmer Rouge lost power in 1979, Ieng Sary retreated with them to the jungles, from where they conducted a guerrilla war.
In 1996, with the group's forces in sharp decline, he defected with a large coterie of followers, setting the stage for the total collapse of the Khmer Rouge two years later.
His belated turn of heart earned him a limited amnesty from then-King Norodom Sihanouk, but one that officials have declared does not apply to the tribunal's charges.
His 75-year-old wife, Ieng Tarith, participated in "planning, direction, co-ordination and ordering of widespread purges ... and unlawful killing or murder of staff members from within the ministry of social affairs", the prosecutors' filing said.
11 comments:
THERE THREE MORE LEFT SIHAKNUK,HUN SEN AND KHIEV SOMPHON if those three not in that court there is a joke for Cambodian people.
Cambodia belong to Khmers"Khmer krom,khmer leu,khmer kandal,khmer Us,khmer Fr,khmer surin...Khmers du monde"................
"HE WHOSE KNOWLEDGE IS DEEP,WHO IS WISE,SKILLED IN THE CHOICE OF THE WRIGHT AND THE WRONG WAY,HAS REACHED THE HIGHEST GOAL,_hIM I CALL A BRAHMAN."................
http://khmervision.free.fr/documents/in-thought03auswitz.htm
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REPONSE D'UN " SIHANOUKOPHOBE " A NORODOM SIHANOUK
---- Original Message -----
From: Billon UNG
Reçu de M. Bernard HAMEL
REPONSE D'UN " SIHANOUKOPHOBE " A NORODOM SIHANOUK
Dans un texte diffusé sur votre site, en date du 1/ 09/ 05, vous m'avez - une fois de plus - mis en cause en me qualifiant de "sihanoukophobe à 5000 %". Cette appellation, incompatible avec l'arithmétique la plus élémentaire, m'a beaucoup amusé - ainsi d'ailleurs que de nombreuses personnes.
Je m'abstiens, en règle générale, de répondre à vos diatribes lorsqu'elles me concernent, pour éviter des polémiques futiles. Cette fois-ci, cependant, je prendrai la peine de vous répondre pour vous préciser notamment pourquoi je suis devenu votre "ennemi" ( et sans doute aussi un "traître" ) après le 18 Mars 1970.
Voici donc mes précisions :
1) - J'ignorais, jusqu'à ce jour, que j'étais considéré à Phnom-Penh, avant 1970, comme un "super-Ministre". Quel honneur pour ma modeste personne !
2) - Je n'ai jamais utilisé le ridicule pseudonyme "Bê Hâm" pour signer des articles dans vos revues ("Réalités Cambodgiennes" et "Kambuja"). Je les signais de mon nom ou de mes initiales.
3) - Je ne me suis jamais senti "Sangkumien", car je ne pouvais pas l'être en tant qu'étranger.
4) - Si vous avez fait appel à ma collaboration, ainsi qu'à celle de MM. Charles Meyer et Jean Barré, pour vos revues et votre secrétariat particulier, c'est en raison de votre profonde méfiance envers vos compatriotes (ce que je déplore).
5) - Tous les documents et photos que je possède encore proviennent, pour une large part, de votre Ministère de l'Information de l'époque "sangkumienne". Ils ne peuvent donc en aucun cas avoir été "truqués" par moi (ou par d'autres personnes).
6) - Si je suis devenu votre "ennemi" après le 18 Mars 1970, ce n'est absolument pas pour des raisons d'ordre personnel. C'est parce que votre attitude après cette date m'a paru révoltante et ignominieuse. Votre pays - j'étais sur place pour mon Agence (Reuter), je tiens à le rappeler - a été agressé et envahi par les forces communistes vietnamiennes le 29 Mars 1970 sans ultimatum ni déclaration de guerre. Il s'agissait d'une agression étrangère caractérisée, mais vous avez fait alors cause commune avec les agresseurs de votre propre pays. En outre vous avez fait pire encore en vous jetant, à Pékin, dans les bras des Khmers Rouges, que vous traitiez vous-même de "Khmers dékhmérisés" avant 1970 lorsque vous les combattiez implacablement (en 1967, 68 et 69). Vous avez ainsi ouvert la voie au génocide.
7) - Toutes vos actions et vos innombrables déclarations après votre destitution ont été inspirées uniquement par votre désir de vous venger, parce que vous aviez été écarté du pouvoir par des voies légales. Vous avez vous-même proclamé à maintes reprises à Pékin votre intention de vous venger des soi-disant "traîtres républicains". Et ce désir de vengeance a finalement coûté deux millions de morts au peuple cambodgien.
Alors, devant une attitude aussi condamnable, comment ne pas être "sihanoukophobe" ? ...
Bernard HAMEL
English version
(Unofficial translantion by Sacrava from origin text in French)
Answer of Bernard HAMEL to NORODOM Sihanouk
Received from Mr. Bernard HAMEL:
In a text diffused on your site, on 1/09/05, you - once more - blamed me by describing me as "sihanoukophobe at 5000 %". This name, incompatible with arithmetic the most elementary, amused me much - thus besides that many people. I abstain from, in general, to answer your diatribes when they relate to me, to avoid polemic futile. This time, however, I will take the trouble to answer you to specify, in particular, why I became your "enemy" (and undoubtedly also a "traitor") after 18 the Mars 1970. Here thus my precise details:
1) - I was unaware of, so far, that I was considered in Phnom-Penh, before 1970, like a "super-Minister". What a honor for my modest person!
2) - I never used the ridiculous pseudonym "Bê Hâm" to sign articles in your reviews ("Kampuchean Realities "and" Kambuja"). I signed them of my name or of my initial.
3) - I never smelled myself "Sangkumien", because I could not be it as a foreigner.
4) - If you called upon my collaboration, like that of MISTERS Charles Meyer and Jean Barré, for your reviews and your particular secretariat, it is because of your deep mistrust towards your compatriots (which I deplore).
5) - All the documents and photographs which I still possessed them, come, to a large extent, of your Ministry for the Information of the time "sangkumienne". They cannot thus in no case "to be faked" by me (or by other people).
6) - If I became your "enemy" after 18 the Mars 1970, it is absolutely not for the reasons of personal nature. It is because of your attitude after this date which appeared to me revolting and ignominieuse. Your country - I was on the spot for my Agency (Reuter), and I hold to point it out - was attacked and invaded by the communist forces Vietnameses 29 Mars 1970 without ultimatum nor declaration of war. It was about a characterized foreign aggression, but you made then causes common with the attackers of your own country. Moreover you made worse by throwing yourself in Peking, in the arms of the Khmer Rouges, whom you treat yourself of "Khmers dekhmerized" before 1970 when you fight them implacably (in 1967, 68 and 69). You thus opened the way to the genocide.
7) - All your actions and your innumerable declarations after your dismissal were inspired only by your desire to avenge, because you had been isolated from power y by legal ways. You proclaimed yourself on several occasions in Peking your intention to avenge for supposedly the "treacherous republicans". And this desire of revenge finally cost two million died to the Cambodian people. Then, in front of such a condemnable attitude, how not to be "sihanoukophobe"? ...
Bernard HAMEL
Killing field, complots, crime against humanity, conquest wars or simple local conflits as some tried to indique. Here are some interesting opinions : Sihanouk's crime in French - in Khmer | Khmer rouge and the Vietnamese communists 1 | Khmer rouge and the Vietnamese communists 2 | 17 april 75 victory and the free pillage of Cambodian patrimony to Vietnam by the Khmer rouge | Profil of Pol Pot | Brother N°1 | K5 -2nd vaque of Angkar leu genocidal policy | Angkar leu ou Angkar Cap Tren 1 | Angkar leu ou Angkar Cap Tren 2 | Angkar leu ou Angkar Cap Tren 3 | Angkar leu ou Angkar Cap Tren 4 | Angkar leu ou Angkar Cap Tren 5 | Hanoi scheming | Double murderous: Soviet and the Vietnamese communists | Vietnanmese leaders and crime against humanity1 | Vn and crime against humanity2 | Vn crime and the killing field | Ho Chi Minh | Genetic influence | Parasite | Pol Pot and microbs | Update October 2007
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ~ * ~ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Copyrigth © Amekhmer. All rights reserved
I tried to warn not to stire the hornet's nest; you did not listen to me. Now, the whole country is in danger in anticipation of the volatility of economic and political stability to haunt us all.
Indeed, and I am sure Ah Sam Rainsy is behind all that because bugging the hornets is his trademark.
We have copious of military arsenals under the ground. Since you have balls of steel (and nerve)to have dugged up the history -- we have to compel ourselves to dig up our arenals.
The volatility just begun! And prepare for the inevitability!
5:14 PM: This is also ME! We thought we had an agreement... "...You leave us alone... we give you peace..." Now, you have cataclysmically and colossally breached the contractual agreement, abysmally!
Message 12:53pm You should go to the trial to.
6;49PM pay me round trip ticket US ,Cambodia hotel food yes I will go and say Sihaknuk is a King of khmer rouge and created killing field,and the rest are K5 Cambodian killer,okay is that what you wanted.?
Thank you for put me in the spot light
The Khmer rouge tribunal court must also charge Samdech Si Cho Hun Sen for crime against innocent Cambodian people committed by his relatives from Hanoi and sentences him to five Hell consecutive life terms.
11:43 PM: Remember that without your former father Sihanouk, you stil be in Cambodia in the rice paddy.
CPP
Khmer killed Khmer is on trial but those foreigners who killed Khmer is not on trial and this is such a shame! Shame on AH HUN SEN government! Shame on United Nation! Shame, shame, and nothing shame!
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